For months New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has been playing hot potato with the decision of whether or not to allow fracking in New York State. There have been missed deadlines from the Department of Environmental Conservation on the risks and regulations needed to insure 'safe' fracking; the Health Department has missed deadlines on their own part of the process.
There has been a number of protests against fracking - and for it as well. The battle is between those worried about the health and environmental risks, and those looking at the jobs and revenue side of the equation. The industry record next door in Pennsylvania is providing plenty of grist for anti-fracking advocates in New York State.
The latest development is shining a light into the inside game being played out in Albany - charges that one of Cuomo's top aides stands to profit directly if fracking is allowed to go forward. At best it's a conflict of interest; at worst it's insider trading and influence peddling.
More below the Orange Omnilepticon.
Hat tip to 350.org for helping get the news out on this. Seven groups held a press conference 2/11/13 calling for an investigation by the Albany County District Attorney Office into charges that Cuomo's Secretary Lawrence Schwartz has a serious conflict of interest.
Enter a press conference today in Albany, where seven groups, including Public Citizen, Food and Water Watch, Frack Action, United for Action, Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy, and Capital District Against Fracking, called for an Albany County District Attorney General investigation of the Cuomo Administration.
They are asking "whether Lawrence Schwartz, Secretary to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, has a conflict of interest between his stock investments and his involvement in the state’s decision on whether to allow high-volume hydraulic fracturing for shale gas."
Schwartz - dubbed "the ringleader" of Governor Cuomo's administration - potentially has what these groups describe as a legal conflict-of-interest. A months-long DeSmogBlog investigation reveals that Cuomo's chief-of-staff actually has a direct financial interest in fracking going forward in New York state, potentially falling under the sphere of insider trading.
Desmogblog (http://s.tt/...)
The rest of the report of the investigation
at DeSmogBlog details the thousands of dollars of investments Schwartz has in companies with a direct stake in fracking, the meetings arranged with top aides and industry stakeholders and lobbyists, and campaign contributions/fundraising/patronage.
All too often the pattern of behavior alleged in these revelations is simply business as usual; the very public debate takes place on top of a hidden power structure serving the insiders (often unelected) who inhabit the system and do well from it. That the Empire State is not already being fracked is a measure of how much passion and citizen involvement is disrupting the inside game. It's also a measure of the controversial nature of fracking; the income for cash-strapped localities in a weak economy, the promise of domestic energy and jobs, is battling with the negative trade-offs: environmental damage, health risks, climate change...
For Governor Cuomo, the whole issue of fracking is a political minefield. Cuomo is nothing if not ambitious. His reputation as a business-friendly Democrat, looking to create jobs and revitalize an upstate economy would get a boost from fracking. At the same time Cuomo has to be very aware that there is a huge risk to the water supplies that provide New York City with drinking water; a bad accident could discredit his environmental credibility and potentially cost the city billions. He's also governor of a state devastated by Superstorm Sandy and the Nor'easter that just came through; climate change is not something he can afford to end up on the wrong side of, especially since it's getting harder to ignore.
The delays in approving regulations for fracking and issuing permits reflects the inability of the state government to come up with a convincing rationale in the face of all the evidence against allowing it, and the political heat that's been generated. The questions raised by these latest allegations about the insider game being played should - in a rational world - put the kibosh on it once and for all. But, as has been demonstrated elsewhere, the greater public interest can get steamrollered by short term political gains, expediency, ideology, and that hidden power structure behind the scenes.
For continuing updates on the unfolding scandal, bookmark #NYFrackingScandal. If you've got information that will help the fight against fracking the Empire State, they're waiting to hear from you. You can contact Governor Cuomo here if you are so inclined. (What does he know, and does he know that he knows it?) And if you haven't signed up with 350.org yet, what are you waiting for?